Chapter 59: The Blue Ghost


TL: Akabane


***


On the morning of the third day, futsal was to be the new event. However, this wasn't a mixed gender event, but a boys-only event. It is dangerous for men and women to play futsal together. Therefore, girls are to cheer for them. In other words, they should be active and appeal to the girls they like! That's what the circle wanted us to do. I'm a shy person at heart, and I'm in trouble at times like this. I'm very annoyed. After all, both events are team competitions. In other words, the Kuzu Blue Houjou used the power of money to bribe not only his teammates but even the enemy team. I couldn't resist this. Defeat was decided easily. Not only that, not a single pass was made. It was hard that even Mashiba felt sorry for me. It was Houjou's team that won the championship. On the contrary, I was chosen as the newly established reverse MVP. I got a lot of naughty DVDs. The representative of the Kokuwagata team said to me, "I hope your favorite actress is on it." I was exquisitely angry, so I said to the boys, "You guys are not popular, so the representative give you mercy!" I threw the DVDs around like boomerangs at the boys. Surprisingly, the girls liked it, so I was happy with the result. The prize was a trip to a summer resort in Hokkaido, Japan. The management's consideration for Houjou was obvious. As usual, Houjou invited Igarashi to join him, but Igarashi simply rejected him saying, "I want to wear a bathing suit, so I'm more of an Okinawa." As a native of Hokkaido, it was a delicate moment for me. After playing singles tennis in the afternoon, the last night of the camp came.










"Why do I have to work my way home? Something about our jinbei smells like smoke...!"


"Just shut up and take care of the okonomiyaki. I'm busy putting meat on skewers."


"Hahaha, we've become the school lunch staff."


Today, Tsukasa, Mashiba, and I were assigned to be cooks again. Mashiba was also involved in the punishment for my escape from Kubodera's sight on the second day. Poor thing. Well, it was my fault.


"Hey, I was thinking! Wouldn't it be super delicious if you mixed that meat with okonomiyaki!"


And Igarashi is still drinking and eating in front of us, throwing out annoying orders.


"I'm sorry, customer. We don't do that kind of arrangement. We do have yakisoba noodles that have been loosened with beer."


It's a common practice among yo-kas to use beer or sparkling wine to loosen the noodles and fry the yakisoba on a griddle. It doesn't taste any better. I can't tolerate idiots who play with citrus-based chu-hai and say, "Yay for salty flavor!" It will make it taste so bad that it will be unacceptable. Never imitate them.


"Yakisoba. It's starting to look more like a fair than a BBQ! Haha!"


Incidentally, Igarashi is now wearing a yukata. Her hair is tied up with a hairpin I gave her. The nape of her neck, exposed by her up-do hair, gives her a sexy look.


"By the way, Tokiwa."


Igarashi puts her face close to my ear.


"Don't you have anything to say?"


"I'm too embarrassed to say anything in front of everyone. But... I don't know. It's beautiful. Very beautiful."


I whispered in a quiet voice so that no one around me could hear. Even so, Igarashi seemed satisfied. She was beaming, her cheeks slightly narrowed.


"Thank you. Oh, that's right. This hairpin has only one lily flower bud. There's something inside, but it doesn't make a beautiful sound like a bell. It makes a ringing sound. I wonder what the intention is?"


"Hm? Really? I thought it was supposed to be a bell. Let me see it after the camp. If it's broken or anything, I'll fix it."


"Thanks! I'll take care of it then."


Igarashi seemed to like the hairpin. She wears it without taking it off her body. That's a very good thing.


"Igarashi-san!"


Usui, wearing a yukata, called out to Igarashi with a firework.


"Yes! I'm coming! I'll go do the fireworks then!"


Igarashi joined Usui and her friends who were having fireworks. The girls were enjoying the fireworks with each other. I extend the earphone from my phone, put it on my left ear and turn on the music.


"What are you listening to?"


"My special collection of moe voices."


I hear a girl's beautiful voice coming out of the earpiece.


"Gross! That's not the kind of thing you listen to at circle camp, is it!"


"I don't want to be told by you, who's going to be a loner at the circle camp."


"Mugugu!"


As expected, I'm not too much of a bully, so I take the okonomiyaki spatula away from Mashiba.


"You go and do fireworks too."


"What? You sure?"


"Memories with the people I love are important. I'm not a respectable enough person to take that away from you."


Mashiba was puzzled, but then she smiled.


"Thank you. I'm off then!"


With a big smile on her face, Mashiba joined Igarashi at a short run. Finally, I get to be alone with Tsukasa now! Ureppiii!


"Fufufu. What can I say, you're very kind to girls, aren't you?"


Tsukasa smiled kindly. It's not just girls. I want to be kind to Tsukasa too. I'm making preparations for that. It's not like I've been making money off my knowledge of the future. I've prepared for the punishment. All I have to do is wait for the right opportunity. In the shade of the cooler box at my feet, I have hidden a tactical vest that contains the tools for the Shibaki. I look at Houjou. He is playing with the girls with fireworks. The moment when his smile will turn into despair is surely just around the corner. I chuckled to myself. That was the moment.


--- "Hey! It's time for a spur-of-the-moment recreation! What a surprise!"


It seemed to be a surprise event that was not on the camp's schedule that I had obtained in advance. I'm in trouble. If they do this, I might lose the chance to beat up Houjou.


--- """Oh my god!"""


--- "Everyone's favorite test of courage! --------------!"


--- """Ohhhhhhhh!"""


It's a lot of fun. I hold my tongue.


--- "There's actually a scary story about this Lake Hamana and the training center of the University of Chugi..."


The representative Kokuwagata starts to tell us a scary story. He talks about students going missing, grudge spirits coming from the sea, and other common horror stories. It's a very realistic story, but it doesn't really scare me. I asked Igarashi how she felt about it, and sure enough, she was listening with an excited smile on her face. In contrast, Mashiba was holding Igarashi's sleeve and looking scared. Igarashi is a woman with a lot of nerve. She is the kind of woman who watches horror movies with a sense of gag. In my previous world, I had to deal with that so much that I've developed a tolerance for horror movies. It's the humans who are really scary! I'm fine enough to be able to say, "I'm really scared of humans!" I'm more worried about the fact that my shibaki schedule has been disrupted. I decided to wait and see.










[Ririse's POV]


I think what really scares me is people. So if monsters and ghosts come out, I don't care. If they want to take it out on me with their grudges, they can. I've been cursed long ago.


"Aren't you scared Riri...?"


"Huh? There are no ghosts in this world. If I find one, I'd like to catch it and make it my pet! Hahaha!"


Tomoe is a scaredy-cat. But I'm sure this is the reaction of a normal girl. Usui, who is standing next to her, also seems somewhat scared. But at the same time, the girls around me felt elated. They must be looking forward to going to a scary place and relying on a boys. I don't know. When a cockroach appears, the mother cries and asks the father to exterminate it. The father easily exterminates them, and the mother is happy to return the favor. But I know. I know that when she is alone and a cockroach appears, she exterminates it by herself without hesitation. She cries because it's fun. And then she pushes something on the boy. It must be fun and amusing. Once when cockroaches appeared in my house, I asked Chusho to exterminate them. Chusho easily killed the cockroach. But I didn't find it particularly enjoyable. I've never felt a moment of pleasure from forcing something on a boy. Maybe I am not a girl enough for that. I may look good, but I am not a pretty girl. So I was cursed. I'm so not pretty that I really don't need to wear glass shoes.


--- "Next group out!"


The grouping was decided on quickly and easily. The girls are me, Tomoe, and Usui. The boys were Houjo, Kubodera-senpai, and the representative, Okuwa. The other girls looked at me in an obvious displeasure. I know that the pairing with the circle representative and the richest boy is making everyone jealous. But it's not that I wanted this combination. I just went with the flow. The boys always favor me. Because I am cursed.


"There's an atmosphere, isn't there? It looks so full of ghosts!"


Usui said this happily with a cackle. This girl has been taking the initiative to enjoy events like this since high school. She gets along well with the boys and she's the leader type girl who makes the class lively. She is different from girls like me who just go with the flow. She can decide everything on her own. Unlike me, who can't decide anything. I can't decide anything without being pushed.


"Yes, you're right. It's going to be haunted. Yes, it will be. I'm sure it will come out soon."


Okuwa says this with an air of pretentiousness. Tomoe is a little frightened by his words and looks around. I think it's adorable.


"It's okay, it's okay. You don't need to be scared. There are scarier things in this world than ghosts..."


Kubodera-senpai stood next to Tomoe. I thought he was trying to be cool to protect her from the ghosts. That's when I thought.


"M------! M------! Uuuu------!!!"


Suddenly, Kubodera-senpai put Tomoe in a tight haunch and covered her mouth. Tomoe flailed about, but was unable to shake off the larger Kubodera-senpai.


"I thought there were no ghosts until middle school. But when I entered high school and met you, I thought, there are women like ghosts. That's why I have to exterminate them... you know!"


Usui was staring at me with his terrible cold eyes. And then he nipped at me. I know in theory that I have to run away. But I can't abandon Tomoe in captivity. And there are no words I can say to deal with this situation. Usui-san squeezes my neck with both hands.


"I always thought. You are a ghost. All the boys were crazy about you even though you didn't do anything. In middle school, I was the one who should sat in that seat, but you easily taking that place from me, even though you didn't do anything. You sat in the seat you were supposed to sit in with no makeup, no speaking skills, no smile, no charm, and no effort at all, when you could have sat there!"


Usui's words hurt me more than my breath. I certainly wasn't trying. I don't know how to talk, so we just talk one-sidedly, and my smile is always too thin. But the boys certainly liked me. I'm cursed, that's why the boys just gather around me. Chusho was always fed up. Because the boys who gather around are depressing.


"But, that will end today!"


Usui removes her hand from my neck. My breathing was too labored, so I put my hands on the ground. Then she takes a sheet of medicine from her pocket. She takes one of the pills and throws it into my mouth. Then she shoves a bottle of liquor into my mouth and forces me to drink it.


"Kyahahaha! How do you like it? Doesn't it give you a jingle in the back of your head!"


It was just as she said. A very strong feeling of drowsiness comes over me. It's making my limbs weak. My vision becomes blurry and I don't even know where I am. Usui whispers in my ear.


"I'm going to mess you up so bad. I'm going to make sure that no one will ever love you again! Hahaha! Hahahaha!"


Only the deafening laughter echoed in my head. And I fell to the ground, unable to think of anything else. And only darkness is with me.



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